Davie Boy Speaks To His Pals…..

This week has seen a little more promising news for Rangers. First of all we have had a return to football, not just to Rangers but to Ibrox stadium – something that I am sure is a promising sign to all associated with Rangers Football Club.

I am deliberately using the name Rangers Football Club today, not sevco, not newco not anything but Rangers. My reasons for doing so are to stick it to the nose of those who want both to have their cake and eat it.

Some people, on various internet platforms want to, in one hand claim that “Rangers are dead, it’s no Rangers….get it in yir thick skull”

Followed by “ aye ye needy pay the debts to clubs and all that because ye bought Rangers history so ye can still be punished for what Rangers done”.

Fair enough – if Rangers have bought the history then they will perhaps need to deal with any footballing penalties that may arise, especially if they have agreed to such prior to membership being granted. What I will not accept is the ‘best of both worlds’ scenario. Basically – you cannot claim Rangers to be dead – yet chase them for punishment. That, I am afraid, is bullshit and right now there is a large amount of it floating about certain people who – quite frankly- are making it painfully obvious that their previous argument was nothing more than a thin veil to cover their blatant hatred and now grief that Rangers are indeed kicking a ball somewhere in the professional leagues.

Now, that does not involve or include everyone. As per usual, for every eejit there are plenty people, good people out there that give their stance with reason; ask relevant questions and provide an argument for reasoned debate. I hope those people understand who they are; I am sure they already know. There is many a question still unanswered in this matter and those that want to find out there truth. But there does exist an element that are not interested, they just want to see death.

If anything regarding Rangers right now is uncertain it is the financial backing of such a new entity.

I understand that the main stream media are good at blowing things out of proportion – but it is painfully obvious that the players Rangers have been signing in the past few days are not just far beyond the calibre of their league Division but also far beyond the wage structure.

I am not prepared to believe some of the £7000 per week or £5000 per week NET figures being branded about however I am sure that some of the recent signings may be sitting around the £4/5000 per week mark. Those wages are phenomenal to every club in the COUNTRY let alone the 3rd division (Celtic omitted obviously).

Indeed, the calibre of player Rangers are signing should see them compete in the SPL – let alone the lower league of the country.

My question remains however – where is the cash coming from to finance those deals?

If we take Bocanegra, Sandaza, Kyle, black, Goian, Wallace, Alexander, Sheilds you could potentially be looking at a wage bill of between £1.5-2 Million per year. Add to that the other wage costs of the club and the general costs of Ibrox stadium we might be looking at an annual outgoing of beyond £5,000,000 per year. Phenomenal for a 3rd Division club, let alone anything else. Naturally this doesn’t include many other costs of the club – just the simple footballing side.

If Rangers were to attain 30’000 season ticket holders this would approx. earn the club £6.5 million going by today’s costs. This is cutting it pretty fine in my view.

From the signings that Rangers are making, from the many other noises coming out of TV deals and various other sources I do not now believe for one minute that Rangers will be promoted to SFL Division 2 next season but Rather SPL 2. The SFA/SPL et al may have clubbed together to make it ‘look’ like Rangers would suffer but I am not convinced that there are no other plans afoot to change the structure of the leagues for financial reasons.

Personally – I would much rather have done it the honest way, building a Roy of the rovers type team but for a man like Green that is not financially viable.

Mr Green himself has cut the shape of a man looking to gain favour. His clapping about Stewart Regan at the Brechin game may have been the general feeling of ALL football fans in the country but I do not condone such behaviour from one in a position of authority such as himself. Those chants are for fans, not for suits.

His latest dig at Peter Lawwell and Celtic regarding School Uniform is childish to say the least. I have not always agreed with some of the press releases that Lawwell himself or Celtic has made over the piece but in the same breath, two wrongs do not make a right and childish behaviour, for me, is not acceptable at board room level. However, as a businessman – Charles green may see this as putting bums on seats and will not be the first or last club chairman to use such tactics.

The main talking point of this week has been around Sir David Murray and his press release to, strangely enough, his old pals at the Daily Record. I have included the quotes and will give my voice:

“Everyone knows what is going on in this country with regards the punishment of Rangers – this is not about sporting integrity, there is an agenda against the club.

I am not really into buying the ‘agenda’ card here. Whilst I agree none of it should be termed as ‘Sporting integrity’ for the main part I do not feel it is an agenda. My fear of using the word ‘sporting integrity’ stems from my belief that such a phrase was never heard in the country until recent times and the wording of such is so broad that every fan will look like a hypocrite for spouting it.

What do I mean by that?

Simple…if your striker is clean through on goal and decides to take a premeditated tumble in the box to convince the referee it is a penalty then that is cheating, plain and simple. Cheating is not something that has shades of grey it is a simple black and white matter. Premeditated tax avoidance and non-payment of HMRC by previous Rangers boards is cheating and must be punished severely due to giving an on-field advantage. A premeditated dive in the penalty box is equally as advantageous to the team. We cannot start to categorise here by saying ‘oh but he could have been given a yellow card’.

Cheating is cheating when it comes to the words ‘sporting integrity’ and that is why I shy so badly away from the word.

I agree with the sentiment – Rangers are guilty of a lack of ‘Sporting integrity’ but then, by all accounts, so is everyone else.

“No one is denying that Rangers deserved to be punished for what has happened over the last year. But it has become a farce. Rangers have been placed on trial in a kangaroo court. It has to stop.

The point that Sir David seems to miss here is that it was not about Punishment, but about consequence. There is a thin line between the two but as a far more intelligent man than me once said – all actions have an equal and opposite reaction.

It is not about Kangaroo courts nor does it become a ‘farce’ in its intentions. The only reason it looks farcical is because those in charge of the game made it so. They made it so by not having the balls to do their job and turned it into a laughing stock when they should have treated the situation as such.

What it reminds me of is the policeman that pulls a driver that is over the drink drive limit. Does he phone his boss to ask for instructions? No, he takes the man to the station, confirms the breath or blood specimen and provides his details to the PF where the man will be charged and punished as per the statute.

If the same policeman pulls the car in front, only to find out that the intoxicated driver is indeed say – The prime minister – the policeman stumbles slightly…..he shouldn’t, he should continue his duty as normal, but he doesn’t…he stumbles and that is what Regan and Co have done with Rangers. Instead of treating them in the same way they would have Albion Rovers, they stumbled because they weren’t expecting it to happen to a bigger club like Rangers.

For avoidance of doubt I am not suggesting Rangers are the Prime Minister of Scottish football although perhaps such is closer to home than I intended. 😉

“This is not about sporting integrity. That term was used as a smokescreen by people who had their own agendas and by club owners who wanted to cut their own costs.

Not really sure I agree with that either Davie boy. My own dislike for the word sporting integrity comes from the values of the term not from the intention of it. I agree that it was about sporting integrity for many – I just don’t think many put a value on the term.

Cutting costs? That doesn’t add up, I think it was remarkably clear that more club owners were quite happy with the Status Quo with Rangers it was only when their own fans decided to take umbridge that they decided to act otherwise.

“But a sense of tribalism took over, chairmen panicked and made decisions in order to be seen to be punishing Rangers even though these decisions will hurt their clubs.

Isn’t that statement a bit of a paradox to the last? First of all we have club owners voting against Rangers entry to the SPL to cut their own costs but now it’s a tribal decision that will hurt their clubs?

That’s not making much sense at all now David.

“We now have an independent commission looking into dual contracts when there were no dual contracts.

Interesting – I would have liked that point to have been elaborated further because it is a bold statement and one that would then in turn surely clear Rangers of any wrongdoing. After all this commission is into the use of duel contracts, not into any tax scheme.

“If Stewart Regan wanted to know what was going on at Rangers would it not have been prudent of him to ask to speak to a man who had 23 years of ownership and chairmanship?

“I still can’t work out why I was not asked to participate.

“I wrote to Regan on May 15 to express my disappointment over what I viewed as an unjustified attack on my character and an inaccurate reflection of my ownership of Rangers. I received a letter back from Regan saying the letter would be passed on and my comments noted.

“So I have come to the conclusion he doesn’t want to hear from me, which is strange when he is supposed to conducting things in an impartial manner.

“It’s almost as if he wants me to go away.

Another interesting point, if it is true then perhaps someone should ask Mr Regan why he hasn’t been in contact with David Murray. After all, if anyone should know the answers then it would be him. I am not suggesting that he wouldn’t lie – David Murray seems apt at such, however – to not question him at all would seem ludicrous.

“Well he can see from my statement today and from what I am saying to you now that I will not be going away while Rangers are being treated in such an unfair and unjust manner.”

“Bayoneting the wounded is neither justified nor proportionate. I cannot be anything other than angered at the suggestion Rangers should be stripped of SPL titles or other competition victories.

“This suggestion is an insult to the staff and players who achieved these successes. During my stewardship no rules were breached or circumvented and I reject and resent any suggestion that anything was done which amounted to cheating.”

This statement will either go down as a great ‘told you so’ moment or another “what they are saying is 99% bullshit” statement. We can only but allow time to decide on the outcome of such.

If this is the case then press comment over the past few years appear to indicate several clubs may well have fallen foul of the soon-to-be-changed historic laws.

“It would also appear the SPL is seeking to invest itself with a power of retrospective penalty beyond that prescribed in its rules.

“Since 2001 when the EBT scheme was introduced, the amounts contributed were disclosed in the audited financial statements.

“It is the right of every tax payer to minimise his liability.

“Tax AVOIDANCE is a right. It is tax EVASION which is a crime.

“At the end of 2010, as a result of changes by HMRC, EBTs were rendered tax inefficient.

“Thereafter the club made no further contributions to EBTs.”

This seems to be the continuing cry from many associated with Rangers. I have not been able to find time to find out if what he is saying is true. However, if the SPL is indeed attempting to use retrospective powers beyond its own articles then it does not stand a chance of stripping Rangers of any titles. It is in this matter that I do not believe that an independent commission should be used to decide Rangers fate in ay matter. This should be a matter for the civil courts – a place where impartiality will not and cannot be questioned.

That, in my view, is the only way to get a result out of this whole sordid affair that no one can then question as being ‘unjust’.

Anyway, no matter what – I for one am glad to be playing football again. I thought that perhaps the debate would end when the football began. I was wrong…oh so wrong.

If this affair results in Rangers being stripped of titles fairly then so be it, I have never been one to run from punishment but aside from that – I think it is time for not only Rangers but the rest of Scottish football to move on at a slightly faster speed. Not in a ‘nothing to see here’ manner but rather in a manner that allows people to get their bums on seats and get the game buzzing again because otherwise there is a real worry that the death of Scottish Football will not come from financial corridors, but from its self-absorption in a complex web of arguments and punishments.

The simple fact is, for a game with more governing bodies than anything else, their rules are a steaming pile of horse shite- as exposed time and time again by the late Paul McBride.

2 Comments on “Davie Boy Speaks To His Pals…..”

“I am deliberately using the name Rangers Football Club today, not sevco, not newco not anything but Rangers. My reasons for doing so are to stick it to the nose of those who want both to have their cake and eat it.”

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And sticking it to the nose of every creditor owed money from Rangers. My, what a lovely dignified approach.

It’s you who wants to have your cake & eat it. You want to ditch your debt but carry on regardless.

So I am deliberately telling you – YOU cannot have it both ways either. Like I said on your other page, are you (your club) intending in paying back what you owe? No? That’s because that entity no longer exists.